Section 106 agreements and the community infrastructure levy

Section 106 agreements

A section 106 (S106) is a legal agreement, normally between someone seeking planning permission and the Council. It sets out the obligations you must meet as a developer to manage the impact of your development on the local community and infrastructure.

S106s may require you to:

• provide affordable housing

• use local employees during construction

• make a financial contribution towards new infrastructure.

Find out when and how we use S106 in our planning obligations supplementary planning document.

Community infrastructure levy

The community infrastructure levy (CIL) is a charge on most types of new developments over a certain size, although there are exemptions. This charge can help pay for local infrastructure projects such as building schools and transport improvements.

Mayoral CIL

The mayor of London operates a CIL to help fund Crossrail. We collect this charge on the mayor’s behalf. Find out more about the mayoral CIL.

Lewisham Council CIL

We introduced a CIL on 1 April 2015. You can see our charges and charging zones in our CIL charging schedule below. You can also see what types of infrastructure we fund with the Lewisham Council CIL in the infrastructure list below.

Who needs to pay CIL

When you apply for planning permission, you need to check if your planned development needs to be assessed for CIL.
You may need to pay CIL if your development:

• contains at least 100 square meters of new build (additional floor space)

• creates one or more new dwellings (even if it is less than 100 square meters of floor space)

• converts a building that is no longer in lawful use into new dwellings (residential or student accommodation).

You may not need to pay CIL if your development:

• is permitted by a ‘general consent’ (including permitted development) and works were started before 6 April 2013

• involves change of use, conversion or subdivision of a building which has been in lawful use for at least six of the last 36 months and does not create any new floor space.

How much you need to pay

You can find out how much you may need to pay toward the mayoral CIL and Lewisham Council CIL by using our online calculator.

How much money we collect through CIL and S106

You can see the amount we collect through CIL and S106 and how that money is spent in our annual monitoring reports.

Find out more about CIL, including the relevant forms and information about exemptions and appeals, on the planning portal.